Excellent book on the end of the Nixon administration—though for entirely different reasons than their previous book All the President's Men. Where that book was a bit of a thriller with Woodward and Bernstein as main characters sleuthing out the story, the narrative here is set entirely within the Nixon orbit. It's much closer to the "feel like you're in the room" tack that Woodward later became famous for, books written a few years later where insiders can tell their side of the story in an attempt to become sympathetic characters.

Most of the administration officials in the book come off as deluded about Nixon—mostly being true-believers—with several thinking they are the protagonists of reality, the only thing holding the administration together. It's the sort of thinking that trickles down from the top, with Nixon bizarrely convincing himself he has to be strong on Watergate so that Brezhnev isn't empowered. Haig, Kissinger, and Ziegler each convince themselves they're the only one who can manage Nixon and keep him on the straight and narrow.

Obviously it's very difficult to read the book now in its original context instead of as a comparison to the Trump administration. And it's true, there are a shocking number of parallels: the emotional neediness and ego of the President, countless administration officials talking themselves into staying for the good of the country/institution, and a thoroughly political reading of impeachment hearings. Towards the end, Nixon even tacitly admits the scandal wouldn't have taken off if Republicans had a majority in the House and Senate—and even then it took over two years and countless evidence of lies to slowly peel off enough to convict.

The GOP eventually dumped Nixon because it was convinced it had a future without him. Same clearly wasn't the case this last time.